"Public Risk Serious Health Problems due to Poor Oral Healthcare Routines" Warns Dental Charity

By: British Dental Health Foundation
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Dental experts, Government ministers, MPs and Lords will gather at the House of Commons May 15 to discuss how poor oral healthcare routines are leaving people at risk of a range of serious general health conditions – including strokes, diabetes, heart disease and low birth weight babies.

Dental experts, Government ministers, MPs and Lords will gather at the House of Commons tomorrow (May 15) to discuss how poor oral healthcare routines are leaving people at risk of a range of serious general health conditions – including strokes, diabetes, heart disease and low birth weight babies.

The British Dental Health Foundation will use the event to reveal the results of the National Dental Survey 2008 which found that as well as failing to take adequate care of their teeth, people in the UK know very little about the impact poor oral health can have on the rest of the body.

The results of the survey - conducted by the British Dental Health Foundation and Oral B – will be revealed at what is the official launch of National Smile Month 2008 at the House of Commons.

Dr Nigel Carter, chief executive of the Foundation, commented: “The public’s awareness of the importance of good oral healthcare is very low indeed.

“The link between gum disease and conditions like heart disease, strokes, diabetes and, in the case of pregnant women, low birth weight babies has been well documented and is backed by robust scientific evidence.

“However, the National Dental Survey 2008 found that only one in seven people realise that people with gum disease are at risk of strokes or diabetes, only one in four are aware of the heart disease link and just one in fifteen know that pregnant women with gum disease are more likely to give birth prematurely!

“When you think that this same survey found that one in three people brush their teeth for less than a minute and a percentage only really clean on special occasions, then you start to realise just how important it is to make people aware of the health risks associated with a poor dental routine.”

National Smile Month 2008 is running simultaneously in the UK and USA between May 18 and June 17. This will be the first time the successful UK campaign has launched in America and both countries will be using the ‘Brush for Health’ tagline to increase public awareness of the health links between the mouth and the body.

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